‘MY SON’S BLOOD WILL BE ON MY HANDS’
A Christian convert is hunted by his family

“Run!”
“Run!”

Omar shouted to his friends as four bearded men with clubs approached
them after ramming into their vehicle. Omar and Hamza escaped, but
Rayyan and Abdul were pinned, unable to open the doors on the passenger side of the car which were wedged against the wall of a building.
Omar watched helplessly from a distance while the four thugs beat his
friends. “Let this be a lesson to you,” Rayyan and Abdul heard while

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MIDDLE EAST

‘MY SON’S BLOOD WILL BE ON MY HANDS’

trying to shield themselves from the blows. “Do you think you can leave
Islam and get away with it?” It would be months before Rayyan and Abdul
would recover from their injuries.
Omar, from a prominent tribal group in the Middle East, has been hunted
by his father, Muhammad, ever since his conversion to Christianity in
2009. In the spring of 2010, Omar led several of his friends to Christ and
began meeting in secret to worship and read the Bible. The fellowship
grew rapidly and an ‘underground’ Christian movement spread in the area.
In June 2010, Ibrahim—who came to Christ during one of Omar’s worship
gatherings—decided to tell his family about his newfound faith. Ibrahim’s

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uncle said he was interested in learning more about his conversion and
invited him for tea. The next morning, Ibrahim was found dead in a field
near his house. His throat was slit and a cup of tea was still in his hand.
Police reported his death as suicide though there was no knife at the scene.
Omar went into hiding soon after.
PERSECUTION HEIGHTENS
As the underground house fellowship grew, persecution increased. Alya, a
teacher by profession whose husband
had divorced her because she could
not bear children, had also come
to faith through Omar’s ministry.
Alya’s brother learned about her conversion after finding her cell phone
and the names of the Christians she
worshipped with. Locking Alya in
her room, he warned her that she had
three days to recant Christianity and
return to Islam. Alya refused. Three LET THIS BE A LESSON TO YOU.
DO YOU THINK YOU CAN LEAVE
days later, Alya was killed.
ISLAM AND GET AWAY
WITH IT?
Fear swept through the underground
church movement following Alya’s
-ATTACKERS TO RAYYAN
murder. Members of the fellowship,
AND ABDUL, AFTER THEIR
which had reached 85 by late 2011,
CONVERSION
WAS DISCOVERED
scattered. Omar, Abdul, Hamza, and
Rayyan were all that remained. After
being attacked in their vehicle, Omar
and Hamza did their best to nurse Abdul and Rayyan back to health and
found assistance from foreign organizations to pay for medical bills. Still,
Rayyan’s health continued to deteriorate and doctors said his leg needed
to be amputated. Instead, Rayyan was flown to Europe for better treatment
and three months later he finally recovered.
A night after Rayyan’s return home, a man approached him on the street.
“Do you know Omar?” the man asked. “No,” Rayyan lied. The man was
not convinced and shot him. The bullet went through Rayyan’s abdomen,

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MIDDLE EAST

Devout Muslim men praying in a mosque.

sending him back to the hospital. Rayyan is still recovering today.
Threats against Omar also continued. “If anyone kills my son, his blood
will be on my hands,” Omar’s father Muhammad told people, according
to reports Omar received from friends. “Omar has shamed our family and
deserves to die.”
Police also refused to protect Omar because of Muhammad’s tribal influence. “‘Why don’t you return to your father?’ police asked me. They meant
that I should return to Islam so that all this would be over,” Omar told
ICC.
In October 2012, the four men who rammed into Omar’s vehicle and
beat his friends were taken to court. Though the prosecutor insisted that
Rayyan and Abdul’s injuries were the result of a car accident, substantial
evidence, including an insurance claim, a doctor’s statement, and contradicting police reports, revealed that a car accident, which did minor
damage to the vehicle, could not possibly have caused the injuries. The
bearded men finally confessed to the crime in court. “These men converted
to Christianity. They deserved it,” they told the judge.
“Is it true?” the judge asked Omar. “What difference does it make?” Omar
responded. “This trial is about an attack, not my religious convictions.”
The judge smiled and agreed. The four men were sentenced to prison.
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WILLING TO DIE
Omar and his friends continue to live in hiding today. In December, three armed men—
commissioned by Omar’s father—found
their ‘safe house’ and were looking to kill
Omar. Fortunately, Omar was not home, but
the threat was enough to convince Omar
that it was too dangerous for his friends if
he continued living with them. Omar now
resides in cheap hotels, changing locations
every several days and trusting that the Lord
will protect and provide for him.
“I have no desire to leave the country. My
ministry is here, to my people,” Omar told
ICC. “They may as well kill me, because I
will never deny Christ. I will continue the
work God has called me to by sharing my
faith with my Muslim friends. For this I am
willing to die.”

ICC has helped Omar and his friends
with rent and food while in hiding and
continues to monitor Omar’s situation.
Omar and ICC are working together to
determine how to support and revive the
underground Christian movement in this
persecuted land. Please pray for Omar
and his friends who continue to lay down
their lives to follow Christ.

Note: The names of Omar and his friends
have been changed for their protection. No
one in this article is pictured.

A FATHER’S LOVE
Muhammad attempted
to kill his own son, Omar,
because he had abandoned
Islam. This is known as
apostasy.
The Quran indirectly
teaches that apostates
should be killed, while the
Hadiths explicitly teach
Muslims to kill apostates.
One example:
“By Allah, Muhammad never
killed anyone except… a
man who deserted Islam
and became an apostate”
(Bukhari 83:37).

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A PERSECUTED PASTOR IN A CLOSED
MUSLIM COUNTRY APPEALS TO ICC FOR
AN UNDERGROUND PRINTING PRESS

“Dear Brother Jeff,
The number of Christians [in our country] is growing every day,
thousands are coming to Christ… To meet the needs, Bibles and teaching
materials are greatly needed... Christians have been arrested for trying
to bring Bibles into the country. We need to be able to print inside the
country, this is the safest way.”

Help us Bring Life into the Darkness
Right now, we have an incredible opportunity: to build an
underground printing press in a closed Muslim country that will open
the Word of God to a million or more people, and reduce the cost and
risk of smuggling Bibles inside. Each Bible is a seed of life!
AN UNDERGROUND PRINTING PRESS WILL:
•

Provide 1,000,000 or more Bible portions

•

Lower the cost per Bible significantly

•

Safeguard those smuggling Bibles from being arrested

•

Bring life to millions!

H O W YO U C A N H E L P
Will you join me in this amazing opportunity to bring life to the desert?
Anytime ICC has the opportunity to put an underground printing press
into a closed Muslim country, I get excited.... really excited. The reason?
Because Satan imprisons Muslims and does everything he can to keep
his prisoners in the dark.
I know that once they meet Jesus, they will fall in love and find the
Author of life. Will you help me open the prison doors and release the
prisoners?
Know that your gifts will be used prayerfully, efficiently, and effectively.
I promise!

GIVING TO ICC VIA YOUR WILL
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by including a bequest provision in
your will or revocable trust. If you
would like more information on
giving to ICC in this way, please
give us a call at 1-800-ICC-5441.

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